Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Depictions Media Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Policy and Rights show up bas WelCom Policy
Speaker 2: Human Joy.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to policy and rights. Here in Depictions Media Radio.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Michael Kloggs. So, over the weekend, as
Speaker 1: you as many of you know that our team does
Speaker 1: speaking engagements on human rights and social justice, and over
Speaker 1: the weekend we were able to do a talk on
Speaker 1: a social justice talk and human rights talk on pinkwashing
Speaker 1: and sexual orientation and gender identity as the policy anti
Speaker 1: bullying policy has been written by the British Columbia government. Well, okay,
Speaker 1: so great British Columbia has a policy out there that
Speaker 1: says that gender identity and sexual orientation will be recognized
Speaker 1: and that they're as part of that policy that there
Speaker 1: should be no bullying ut it and it is introduced
Speaker 1: at all levels of government, from school systems to actual
Speaker 1: provincial working offices. Okay, so here's the problem in the
Speaker 1: school systems. Though, school systems operate by way of curriculum.
Speaker 1: So on one hand, you have one group of people
Speaker 1: that say, hey, you're trying to indoctrinate my children and
Speaker 1: turn them into something that they are not. You're trying
Speaker 1: to force them to be gay. Not necessarily true, but
Speaker 1: can be interpreted that way because they put no claimers
Speaker 1: or anything like that to the policy itself. So you
Speaker 1: have one group of people that and some of the
Speaker 1: extremists out of that group, they want to burn books,
Speaker 1: they want to have teachers fires. They are marching that
Speaker 1: you are trying to indoctrinate our children into being something
Speaker 1: that they are not. That you are trying to change
Speaker 1: our children and force them into a tunnel that they
Speaker 1: do not belong. Which, okay, set aside the extremists to
Speaker 1: book burners and all. As a parent, I understand, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't want my government dictating to my children what their
Speaker 1: gender identity should be or their sexual orientation. No, I
Speaker 1: would not want that. You didn't want a teacher standing
Speaker 1: there saying, oh, Joey, because you're wearing pink, that you
Speaker 1: have to be identifying as a trans person, or Julie,
Speaker 1: you're wearing brown and blue, you have to be identifying
Speaker 1: as a trans person, and then try to guide them
Speaker 1: down a path towards surgeries, medications, all that sort of stuff. No,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want that either, not as a parent. That
Speaker 1: should be left to be within our families. Okay, then
Speaker 1: you have the other side of a coin saying that well,
Speaker 1: they aren't doing enough because parents are are are the
Speaker 1: bad guys, That children are afraid to come out in
Speaker 1: front of their parents because of the ridicule and the
Speaker 1: shaming that is going to go along with it. Very
Speaker 1: valid point. Also, I understand where they're going with that,
Speaker 1: that there are families out there that still believe in
Speaker 1: reprogramming and all sorts of other really weird stuff that
Speaker 1: does that they do to torture the gayness out of
Speaker 1: a person to make them go straight. Okay, So here
Speaker 1: it is in a nutshell, and this is what we
Speaker 1: had discussed in our talk after showing our film Mutah's
Speaker 1: cartoon A Gin your Fluid Queer Muslim that one school
Speaker 1: counselors and teachers as while they say that it is
Speaker 1: great that the province has put forth a policy and
Speaker 1: they've posted on their website, it's really great. This is
Speaker 1: totally awesome. It means that the province is taking a
Speaker 1: stance to eliminate the bullies from the crowd. Okay, where
Speaker 1: are the resources, Where are the resources to help counselors
Speaker 1: and teachers in the school systems to deal with the bullying,
Speaker 1: to the guidelines to deal with that. Where are the
Speaker 1: resources for parents who have a ginger fluid or gay
Speaker 1: child so that they can deal with those things in
Speaker 1: a loving way? Where are those resources? Where?
Speaker 3: Where?
Speaker 1: How did the problems set this up? They're making a statement,
Speaker 1: but there's nothing behind this statement. It's just a statement.
Speaker 1: And that's where the problem actually lies. The reason why
Speaker 1: you have one extreme saying, hey, doing in docrity my children,
Speaker 1: and the other one saying that parents are being bullies
Speaker 1: in trying to tortured their shold the gain is out
Speaker 1: of their children. Well, that's why we have that. So
Speaker 1: the two sides of the same issue, and the problem
Speaker 1: with the real problem with the issue is is that
Speaker 1: the government didn't provide resources to the parents and hasn't
Speaker 1: provided resources for the teachers and the counselors and the schools,
Speaker 1: all of which want to protect the children. They want
Speaker 1: to make sure that our children grow up happy, well adjusted,
Speaker 1: and able to express themselves. That is the common thread
Speaker 1: between both sides. That is what they want for the children.
Speaker 1: Now how do we make that happen is another question.
Speaker 1: So along with that, of course, pride has always been
Speaker 1: a political protest trying to get rights for same sex relationships,
Speaker 1: for the for equality in a job place for uh,
Speaker 1: transgender people, so the and allow allow freedom of expression
Speaker 1: of who we are as we just generally walk down
Speaker 1: the street. And with that being a political protest, there's
Speaker 1: a lot that goes along with that. So we know
Speaker 1: that and we're not going to play this uh in
Speaker 1: this particular podcast what Mark Karney had to say while
Speaker 1: he was at the Vancouver Pride. But who we will
Speaker 1: actually have from the Liberal Party is Ernie Clausen, and
Speaker 1: he is the MP of where this particular radio station
Speaker 1: sits for White Rock South Sorry, British Columbia, as he
Speaker 1: makes some statements about support and government support for those
Speaker 1: who are being marginalized because they are in same sex
Speaker 1: relationships or have a non binary identity. We are also
Speaker 1: going to hear from the mayor of Langley, Langley City,
Speaker 1: British Columbia, as he is in a same sex relationship
Speaker 1: and he was given the honor of raising the Pride
Speaker 1: flag for the for the Langley Pride event and over
Speaker 1: Langley for the month of August. Okay, so we're going
Speaker 1: to hear that and we're going to hear bits and
Speaker 1: pieces about what those two have to say. We're also
Speaker 1: going to hear from the senior Resource director in Langley,
Speaker 1: British Columbia as she talks about some of the issues
Speaker 1: that go along with being elderly and being gay, and
Speaker 1: how there are other issues that go along with that,
Speaker 1: such as being left alone, finding themselves in a lonely place,
Speaker 1: that sort of thing, and as a senior, because well,
Speaker 1: you didn't follow the traditional relationship boundaries, you didn't follow
Speaker 1: the traditional binary way of living male female, that you
Speaker 1: went non binary, and now you're left alone in your
Speaker 1: older in your elder years. So why don't we get
Speaker 1: started and let's hear from each of the three people
Speaker 1: as they talk about Langley and Pride. In Langley.
Speaker 3: And Langling Pride have together here.
Speaker 4: Last Sunday, I was honored to be walking next to
Speaker 4: our Prime Minister in the Vancouver Pride great and he
Speaker 4: mentioned to a number of people that he is an
Speaker 4: ally of the LGBTQ two plus community. So I'm proud
Speaker 4: to be part of the party that believes in inclusivity
Speaker 4: and believes that every single person in Canada is an
Speaker 4: EGUO and so I'm just so.
Speaker 3: Honored and proud to be here.
Speaker 4: And I just want to also say that I am
Speaker 4: the co chair of the National Pride Caucus in Ottawa,
Speaker 4: and so I belong to a group that unfortunately at
Speaker 4: this point there's only members that sit on my side
Speaker 4: of the floor that are part of it, even though
Speaker 4: there's members that should join our group. But together with
Speaker 4: one of the senators christa Senator Christopher Wells of Alberta,
Speaker 4: ironically we co chair the National Pride Caucus and we
Speaker 4: intend to let Canadians know that we are there and
Speaker 4: we represent the LGBTQ two plus community and everybody who
Speaker 4: identifies as either an ally or a supporter of our group.
Speaker 4: So thank you so much and again happy try.
Speaker 5: Oh you're also very pleased to have the city of
Speaker 5: Langley mere Nka Pahal here with us to help raise
Speaker 5: our flags.
Speaker 3: Meir, thank you very much.
Speaker 6: I have to say there's a connection to Langley because
Speaker 6: I ordered flowers for my husband and I think your
Speaker 6: husband showed up at our door, so.
Speaker 3: Connection right there. He owns a power shop. By the
Speaker 3: way we bought the contexts.
Speaker 6: I should have started with that he owns a power shop.
Speaker 6: But I am pround to be here on behalf of
Speaker 6: Langley City Council, and I know our council, every single
Speaker 6: member of council has been very supportive of the two
Speaker 6: s LGBTQ I A plus community. I'm just gonna say
Speaker 6: gay and career from that on because that is a
Speaker 6: lot of letters and numbers. But I know that people
Speaker 6: have different labels and it's very important. But you know,
Speaker 6: we did our first flag raising and we actually had
Speaker 6: to defend that right at the BC Human Rights Tribunal
Speaker 6: because someone thought that was an inappropriate thing to do.
Speaker 6: But we did win and that community vould do that.
Speaker 6: That's because the council as a whole, so I'm just
Speaker 6: trying to give them a lot of credit there. But
Speaker 6: everyone really been thinking about this season. So there's two
Speaker 6: things that come to mind. I was actually at a
Speaker 6: Pride dinner last weekend and someone said, hey, this is
Speaker 6: like our gay Christmas, and to me, it's actually like
Speaker 6: gay Thanksgiving. And I've really been thinking about you know,
Speaker 6: Pride as a protest. That's really been top of mind
Speaker 6: and I'm sure for a lot of queer people it
Speaker 6: has been, and I wanted to share some of the
Speaker 6: things that I'm thankful for and it's from our elders,
Speaker 6: or my elders at least. So there were people that said,
Speaker 6: you know, enough is enough in the nineteen seventies and
Speaker 6: they got like gays removed as a mental disorder, so
Speaker 6: that was a huge thing. There were folks that, you know,
Speaker 6: there was a lot of raids and places where queer
Speaker 6: people went, whether it was bars or pathoses and stuff
Speaker 6: like that, and they said, you know, enough is enough.
Speaker 3: We deserve to be here.
Speaker 6: And then they decriminalized moosexuality and they said, hey, you
Speaker 6: know what, these people are actual human beings. And then
Speaker 6: we step ahead further where people fought for the rights
Speaker 6: for us to get married and have spellsal benefits. And
Speaker 6: I was lucky to benefit from that. So when I
Speaker 6: got married, I didn't have to worry about all of
Speaker 6: these things. You know, my elders did and plot for us.
Speaker 6: So I think those people deserve a round of applause.
Speaker 6: Here today can play plot.
Speaker 3: And you know, one of the things.
Speaker 6: That is really powerful is just by showing up here,
Speaker 6: by putting that rainbow flag up is a protest in
Speaker 6: a way, because we're still trying to be erased, even
Speaker 6: in twenty twenty five, which is really shocking, and you
Speaker 6: see that in other communities and in other places of Canada.
Speaker 6: So I think it's really really important that we're here
Speaker 6: today raising the rainbow flag, saying hey, we're here and
Speaker 6: we're queer.
Speaker 3: I've said that a lot in the.
Speaker 6: Last few days because that's really really important and we
Speaker 6: celebrate who we are. And you know, Langley City and
Speaker 6: the township are really great places. They embrace mostly to
Speaker 6: s lgbtwo two slgbt q I A plus people. So again,
Speaker 6: very happy, happy Pride, happy silver Pride, happy pride for Langley.
Speaker 3: We have a Pride society.
Speaker 6: So round of applause for all the hard working factors
Speaker 6: for that. And you know what a lot of fun
Speaker 6: and we're super hear today.
Speaker 5: Thank you Mayor, it's really good to have you with
Speaker 5: us today. I'd like to introduce Oliver Day. Oliver is
Speaker 5: our board director with the Langley Pride Society.
Speaker 7: Typically give speeches of giving the short I just want
Speaker 7: to say a lot.
Speaker 3: Of thank you. Thank you to keep.
Speaker 7: Which and all the stuff at the Senior Center of
Speaker 7: helping us get this event off the ground. Thank you
Speaker 7: to fellow committee members on Priday planning folks from our
Speaker 7: board folks from the Seniors Pride group this projects to
Speaker 7: work on and are excited.
Speaker 3: That is happening.
Speaker 7: Thank you for everybody that's here, especially sponsors, our vendors, performers,
Speaker 7: and of course the volunteers. Thank you for showing up
Speaker 7: and saying that. Thank You's place where we can celebrate.
Speaker 7: You might have heard the phrase be who you needed
Speaker 7: when you were younger, and that's what I keep in
Speaker 7: mind when working over here events a language. I want
Speaker 7: to be visible for those who can't be are still
Speaker 7: figuring themselves out, and maybe to inspire people to be
Speaker 7: praying formosults. I hope you can lder friends today on
Speaker 7: alb pro as people, a community, a country in the
Speaker 7: world and the part of our progress. Residence and stream.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thanks, Thank you so.
Speaker 5: Langley Pride twenty twenty five is a powerful reminder that
Speaker 5: pride has no age limit and that every generation plays
Speaker 5: a role in our collective story.
Speaker 8: This is our organization's third Pride event. We have in
Speaker 8: previous years held our Silver Pride, where the focus is
Speaker 8: to connect older, gay and queer people, celebrate the everyday
Speaker 8: heroism of people living their authentic lives, and to promote
Speaker 8: intergenerational discussion and commemorate those who campaign for the freedoms
Speaker 8: so many enjoy today. LGBTQ plus and all the other
Speaker 8: alphabet letters.
Speaker 3: I can remember what they are. We'll get it right.
Speaker 8: These seniors are more likely to be isolated than the
Speaker 8: already isolated older people in our society. They may be
Speaker 8: afraid to be public about their relationships because of generational stigma,
Speaker 8: and more likely to experience depression because of their inability
Speaker 8: to live their lives fully. Pride is celebrated all over
Speaker 8: the world to have some fun and to acknowledge the
Speaker 8: challenges and opposition that gay queer people have based.
Speaker 3: While enormous progress has.
Speaker 5: Been made in this social rights movement, there are still businesses, organizations,
Speaker 5: and individuals who are targeted with hate, and there are
Speaker 5: still aspects of the cultural and political landscape that do
Speaker 5: not recognize gay and queer folks as equal members of
Speaker 5: our society. Our Pride event today celebrates their stories of love,
Speaker 5: hope and activism. Older gay queer people have different life
Speaker 5: experiences and different challenges. Are LSRS Senior Pride group meets
Speaker 5: every month and they are welcoming new members. If you're
Speaker 5: interested through this group, we encourage folks to gather in celebration, understanding,
Speaker 5: advocacy and support. So today we are here to affirm
Speaker 5: that the Langley Senior Resource Society is an inclusive community.
Speaker 3: This is embedded in our organization's values.
Speaker 5: We value all seniors in Langley and we want to
Speaker 5: support learning, recreation and social lives.
Speaker 3: No matter who you are, no matter who.
Speaker 8: You look like, what you look like, no matter where
Speaker 8: you come from, and no matter who you love, you.
Speaker 3: Are welcome here.
Speaker 8: As long as you're over fifty.
Speaker 2: I think we're.
Speaker 9: Right, So can you hear me? This is for for
Speaker 9: the Ray Corp.
Speaker 3: This is for the press.
Speaker 9: So yeah, So that's just that's what And it's twenty minutes,
Speaker 9: the twenty minute story, but it's I think it's important
Speaker 9: to tell, and especially here in Langley. I'm so happy
Speaker 9: that Langley Pridus invited us to show our film and
Speaker 9: and also committed against pink quashing and supportive of Langley's
Speaker 9: seniors and Langley youth and everybody else. So I'm really
Speaker 9: happy to be here.
Speaker 1: I'm very happy to be here in Langley to talk
Speaker 1: about this. One thing I do want to say, though,
Speaker 1: is two of my fellow volunteers are back there at
Speaker 1: the flag raising. Interestingly enough that the mayor of Langley
Speaker 1: City showed up for the flag raising. In fact, he
Speaker 1: did the flag raising, but the mayor of Langley Township
Speaker 1: did not show up. Is I does that kind of
Speaker 1: say something about who we should be voting for versus
Speaker 1: who we might want to leave out when it comes
Speaker 1: to issues around equality. And that's a and the longest
Speaker 1: short of it is is pinkwashing is about being being
Speaker 1: able to express yourself equally as everyone else.
Speaker 2: In the world.
Speaker 1: And that was why we decided to put this story
Speaker 1: together the way it is and include especially includes link
Speaker 1: where she's talking about what's happening to her people back
Speaker 1: in Palestine.
Speaker 10: So Michael is depictions media, the broadcaster, podcaster and.
Speaker 9: And uh and and has been h helped me make
Speaker 9: this film in another film as well. So thank you
Speaker 9: very much Michael for helping me tell this story. Any questions,
Speaker 9: any just any comments, anything that, uh that you wanna
Speaker 9: share of. Yeah, Alec, So.
Speaker 3: I know that being gend.
Speaker 11: Like, what was the moment you decided to let go
Speaker 11: of this time and come into your.
Speaker 3: Own gender as a gender?
Speaker 9: I I know when I started, I decided I wanted
Speaker 9: to be a counselor. And the reason I wanted to
Speaker 9: be a counselor because there was nobody there to help me.
Speaker 9: And so I decided that I I wanted to be
Speaker 9: able to what help myself first and come to terms
Speaker 9: of of who I was, and then they able to
Speaker 9: help other people like yourself.
Speaker 3: Like.
Speaker 9: And uh so when I was doing my counseling my practicum,
Speaker 9: and they came aconst this youth were way ahead of
Speaker 9: many of us when you to gender identity and started
Speaker 9: saying there, well have non binary and things like that. So,
Speaker 9: I mean I knew I was gay, and that was
Speaker 9: a struggle to begin with. In fact, I'm not even
Speaker 9: out as as a gender person to my mom, and
Speaker 9: I'm being gay and accepting my husband. This is enough
Speaker 9: for her, but to I started expressing, like you know,
Speaker 9: momtas was there since I was six seven, as it
Speaker 9: used in the film, but she had to hide who
Speaker 9: she was and then gradually started coming out and things
Speaker 9: like that. And when I start young people and sort
Speaker 9: of laylou and in Toronto and things like that, it
Speaker 9: just gave me permission to express who I was. I mean,
Speaker 9: I don't think there was a turning point as such,
Speaker 9: Momtas has been coming out gradually, right, And I'm sure
Speaker 9: a lot of you can come to understand that because
Speaker 9: you probably ushed your experience as well. But yeah, it
Speaker 9: was yeah, first of all being gay, suppressing who I
Speaker 9: was as a gay person, and then suppressing my gender identities.
Speaker 9: It's it's it's still coming out. Is is ongoing, it
Speaker 9: it never stops. I'm sure you can understand that anybody else.
Speaker 1: Okay, where in Islam or the Muslim faith does it
Speaker 1: say that being entering into a same sex relationship is
Speaker 1: an abomination?
Speaker 9: No same work place in the Bible? Well supposedly, I
Speaker 9: mean the thing is Islam is not very clear when
Speaker 9: it comes to same sex relationships. But there is space
Speaker 9: in Islam for uh transgender identity. In fact, uh places
Speaker 9: like Pakistan. I don't know bout Bangladesh, but pakist On
Speaker 9: and you run sexual assignments, surgery is allowed, but there's
Speaker 9: not many a lot of resources for trans people. But
Speaker 9: the but the Koran does recognize that there are people
Speaker 9: whose gender is not clear, and in fact says that
Speaker 9: uh where to pray? Right, if you're if you're, if
Speaker 9: your gender is, how are you identify you pray with
Speaker 9: the women or the women, or you pray with the men.
Speaker 9: But if you're if your gender is not clear, then
Speaker 9: you pray in the middle. Right, So I mean there
Speaker 9: is space for that.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 9: There are queer Muslim activists who will argue that if
Speaker 9: you accept trans identity in the Kuran and Islam, then
Speaker 9: the idea of trans is transcending gender. That means all
Speaker 9: queer folks transcend gender because we have saying sex desire.
Speaker 9: So therefore, if you accept trans folks, we should accept oh,
Speaker 9: of all queer folks. But we're not there yet, and
Speaker 9: that's part of the struggling. I think that's the same struggle,
Speaker 9: whether it comes today's in my Christianity, Yeah, you can
Speaker 9: speak more to that, well, yeah.
Speaker 1: I can probably speak more about Judaism or Christianity because
Speaker 1: as the whole thing. The reason why I asked the
Speaker 1: question is because I grew up going to Roman Catholic
Speaker 1: Catholic school for thirteen years kindergarten through twelfth grade, and
Speaker 1: you were told that you were an abomination if you
Speaker 1: desired the same sex or if you didn't like I
Speaker 1: like to wear pink, I like to wear certain style
Speaker 1: shoes and things like that it's just clothing. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: so the nuns would try to beat that out.
Speaker 3: Of me, and.
Speaker 1: It isn't anywhere in the Bible. As a matter of fact.
Speaker 1: If we try trick it, track everything back to the
Speaker 1: Hebrew and then back into Sanskript, what it comes out
Speaker 1: to be is there is a quote unquote warning that
Speaker 1: you won't have children. Does that matter to everybody if
Speaker 1: you're with the one you love?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 9: So I I met a Jewish person and they said
Speaker 9: that in in the Torah. Uh, the tour speaks about
Speaker 9: doesn't speak about what gender or sexual orientation whatever, But
Speaker 9: what does talk about is who you can sleep with
Speaker 9: in your family like t Yeah, family taboos, Yeah, something
Speaker 9: like that. That that's in the that's in Leviticus apparently, Yeah,
Speaker 9: what you would Michael has both a Christian and Jewish background,
Speaker 9: so you can talk about so knows where about that.
Speaker 9: But you know that the thing is that what really
Speaker 9: gets to me is that a lot of those people
Speaker 9: who are the antisci leaders here in the valley and
Speaker 9: in Syrian things like that are people from my community,
Speaker 9: right And and you know when you look at Pakistan, India,
Speaker 9: places like that, there's spaces for trans folks, and yet
Speaker 9: they are afraid of letting their children express who they are.
Speaker 9: And they're going after teachers like Annie Johanna right who
Speaker 9: who are creating space for letting young people discover and
Speaker 9: explore who they are. She's who's also a Jewish leader.
Speaker 9: So yeah, this is why I think that this is
Speaker 9: one of the reasons why I thought it's important to
Speaker 9: tell my story. And I think it's it's a good
Speaker 9: place to the Senior Center or watch I am a
Speaker 9: senior so almost sixty two showing my my my story.
Speaker 9: Anybody else wants to share your thoughts. Feeling fiscal ahead,
Speaker 9: there's a question of.
Speaker 3: Going into the counseling.
Speaker 6: I found that there's not a lot of discussion around.
Speaker 3: To gender.
Speaker 9: MM.
Speaker 3: I'm just wondering, but what's your experience.
Speaker 9: My experience is my school counselor is uh put me
Speaker 9: in a room and never didn' eman talk to me.
Speaker 9: But I know, I but I think a like, whether
Speaker 9: you're a counselor or a teacher or a a preacher
Speaker 9: or whatever, you're in that response r role of of
Speaker 9: of listening and supporting people. Right, So it's I think
Speaker 9: l and that's why I wanna become a counselor, because
Speaker 9: I have lived experience. A lot of counselors don't right
Speaker 9: and theyre an and so they're l this could be
Speaker 9: a good resource for them, or other resources like we
Speaker 9: have with salam or Share has resources and things like
Speaker 9: that in terms of about cultural diversity and and sexual orientation,
Speaker 9: general identity. They need those resources, they need that training,
Speaker 9: and I think hopefully, I think the BCT is getting
Speaker 9: around that. So when these people are protesting, you know,
Speaker 9: in in front of schools, saying oh, they're indoctrinating our
Speaker 9: kids with SOGI, well, SOGI is just a policy. It's
Speaker 9: not even even in a resources that that does teachers have.
Speaker 9: It's just the beginning. So it's you know, we just
Speaker 9: gotten there and these people are protesting saying, oh they
Speaker 9: are indoctrining. No, they're not right. In fact, the teachers
Speaker 9: don't even have the resources. Some teachers do better than others,
Speaker 9: Some counselors do better than others. Some some preachers are great,
Speaker 9: some are like very you know conservative. So I I
Speaker 9: think it's a personal thing, and it's a community basis thing.
Speaker 9: It's a resources thing. I think we need to have
Speaker 9: more resources for people like counselors and teachers and and
Speaker 9: then teachers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll agree, especially on the preacher party. Yes, sir.
Speaker 3: So that question to you, is you gonna step a
Speaker 3: few steps? You know, the parents that raised me and you.
Speaker 3: I have nine siblings. Did I ever hear the word
Speaker 3: sex in my whole life in that family?
Speaker 2: No, not once.
Speaker 12: And when somebody within our religious community became pregnant outside
Speaker 12: of wedlock, she was sex shamed or slutshing.
Speaker 3: Or whatever a few pointed words.
Speaker 12: And when something else came up at one time about
Speaker 12: kids talking about sex or misbehaving, I still remember as
Speaker 12: clear as yesterday.
Speaker 3: You guys, as we were all boys, know that you
Speaker 3: can come and talk to me about this at any time.
Speaker 12: And I remember thinking, at the age of twelve or thirteen,
Speaker 12: not on your life, because you'll shame the hell out.
Speaker 3: Of me in two seconds.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 13: So what does that tell you about my father and
Speaker 13: my mother? They were frightened to death of their own sexuality.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were controlled by their religion. Yep. So you
Speaker 3: gotta you gotta stayed in the confinement. Yeah, you're not
Speaker 3: gonna go anywhere saying you're wrong and we're right.
Speaker 9: Yeah, And I think that's what a lot of these
Speaker 9: parents are coming from. Out of fear.
Speaker 3: Right back to pinquashing making a simple analogy. The TV
Speaker 3: Bank is doing is making good business. They don't give
Speaker 3: a shit where that money comes from.
Speaker 11: Yep.
Speaker 3: And so to say they're ping c They're just making
Speaker 3: my business decisions. So for an organization to cut their
Speaker 3: fan the.
Speaker 12: Care, I'm I'm conscious that I'm training on difficult ground here.
Speaker 3: To cut their their funding off does nothing to the
Speaker 3: TV bank. They only impacts your organization. And I'm not
Speaker 3: saying they shouldn't do that. I'm saying we need to
Speaker 3: think about those things a little bit further. We need
Speaker 3: to start educating the generation that you talk to your
Speaker 3: your first practical placement, Gender fluid blah blah blah.
Speaker 13: Yeah, they were growing up with kids that were our
Speaker 13: children's children, and they grew up in a different atmosphere.
Speaker 3: Than post war babies. True, and they had parents who
Speaker 3: allowed them to speak. So the fear isn't there. The religion,
Speaker 3: religion is about control, and religion is under all of us.
Speaker 3: Yeah with cappinings, No, I'm just saying it's very very complicated.
Speaker 12: Y It is that you can make a single distinction
Speaker 12: and a single accusation and a single mayor cope up, No.
Speaker 9: It's it's I I I expand them exactly right. I
Speaker 9: mean you're right, and I I think depends where you
Speaker 9: are too, Like you know, some areas are more open
Speaker 9: than others, and hearing the valleys more difficult as you know.
Speaker 9: In terms of UH, I I think. Yeah. I was
Speaker 9: just talking to Alec about we met this UH Muslim
Speaker 9: parent just yesterday who has a trans kid, right, and
Speaker 9: they said, we need to have support for the parent.
Speaker 9: It's right. So this is what we need to do,
Speaker 9: is we need to support parents who have queer and
Speaker 9: transfer U.
Speaker 3: Situations ago in one sure, yeah this Langley, that is
Speaker 3: not the same place.
Speaker 9: But look at this. We have Pride right here in Langley,
Speaker 9: which is it's that's really great. I I'll give you
Speaker 9: an example about the pinkwashing thing. Like Surry Pride had
Speaker 9: the TD Bank, they also have Prosperate Credit Union. They
Speaker 9: realize that they can find the money elsewhere, right, they
Speaker 9: sent the money back to TD banks and we don't
Speaker 9: want your blood money. And they got Prosperate Credit Union
Speaker 9: as a prime sponsor. So if there's a will, there's
Speaker 9: a way to stop pinquashing. Others have capital pride in Toronto,
Speaker 9: Ottawa has, many others have and you know s s.
Speaker 9: We fought for our rights at Stone Wall and here
Speaker 9: and things like that. But when we have our siblings
Speaker 9: who are suffering in Palestine, who are being r raped
Speaker 9: and murdered, uh not all the all Palestines are. But
Speaker 9: if if you're query, you're even more vonderable, then we
Speaker 9: can just sort of take that blood, money and and
Speaker 9: and and and celebrate pride. Cause it's all right. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 9: I'm just saying that it is will and and so
Speaker 9: they probably prove that there is a there's.
Speaker 1: A way to do that. You you're you're green with
Speaker 1: h L with a lot of that. So I I
Speaker 1: do have a question, free I.
Speaker 3: I think the process is a multi generation process. It
Speaker 3: is I look at my apparent.
Speaker 12: Generation, which was you know, a post uh early nineteen
Speaker 12: hundreds to two thousand, and then mine and then.
Speaker 3: What would be my kid's age and their kids. The
Speaker 3: world of difference. The world is the same place our
Speaker 3: language were talking about in ten years. Our own language
Speaker 3: has changed ye about disconcarity yep, so to pretty school.
Speaker 3: But you gotta keep educating at every line. Capitalism is
Speaker 3: a very big part of this problem.
Speaker 1: It is agreed, capitalism it is it is is a
Speaker 1: very big w uh part of the problem.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the first one that happened.
Speaker 2: Yeah uh.
Speaker 3: A uh, most respects. I would like to clean up
Speaker 3: something to me that it's it's.
Speaker 14: So fundamentally important that Unlis the issue of Palestine to
Speaker 14: the struggle here in our communities is so important.
Speaker 3: I thank you at the bottom of my heart. I
Speaker 3: am greezing and so purged. Why what's happening?
Speaker 1: You got pain?
Speaker 3: If I see on the screen just as a core
Speaker 3: representation often devastation exists in all of our partments. I
Speaker 3: need to cut this out.
Speaker 14: When you're forgetting really essential things, when you're bringing this
Speaker 14: to all of our attention.
Speaker 10: I thank you for all of them, heart, thank.
Speaker 1: You, thank you for recognizing that it the the my
Speaker 1: I guess my bottom line point is is this and
Speaker 1: take it for what it is worth it. We're all
Speaker 1: human beings. It doesn't matter who we decide to love,
Speaker 1: who we decide to enter relationships with. What matters is
Speaker 1: that we all try to share that common thread and
Speaker 1: that common energy of love with each other. Everybody that
Speaker 1: we meet every day. And that's the reason why I
Speaker 1: do these films is because I want people to see
Speaker 1: that we can love each other unconditionally, and we can
Speaker 1: love each other with th there's no need for for
Speaker 1: the hate at all. Yes, sir, I'm sorry, you go ahead.
Speaker 3: The power of language needs to be respect to you said.
Speaker 3: Who we decide to love. That is the main that
Speaker 3: we get.
Speaker 9: Love.
Speaker 1: And you know what, I I welcome. I welcome the correction.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Very Religion, community and choice choice.
Speaker 1: I I am a I am a recovering Roman Catholic
Speaker 1: that just say a lot. Yeah, but you're but you're right,
Speaker 1: I can't as far as my family is concerned, just
Speaker 1: the fact that I dressed the way I do, I can't.
Speaker 1: I cannot go back east and and and go to
Speaker 1: a family reunion. Yeah, you know, but hoping they make this.
Speaker 9: And thank you a ting answering you talk about.
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